


Giving Up On You

by Raurasaurus



Category: Miraculous Ladybug
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-10-05
Updated: 2018-10-05
Packaged: 2019-07-25 16:08:23
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,753
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16200974
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Raurasaurus/pseuds/Raurasaurus
Summary: Three years of being partners, Cat Noir finally realized it was pointless waiting for Ladybug to return his affections and decides to give up on her.  Will their relationship crumble here, or is there still hope?  This is a short one-shot series.





	Giving Up On You

“Pound it!” the two said in unison as they fist-bumped their victory. Their Miraculous simultaneously beeped reminding them that their time was limited.

Ladybug ran toward the edge of the building preparing to swing away, but Cat Noir grabbed her wrist before she could.

“Can we talk before you go?”

She turned to him with a slight smile. “Cat, I know were this is going, and I’m sorry, but…”

“It’s not what you’re thinking, Ladybug.” He cut her off.

She was a little concerned now because he would not make eye contact with her. He looked… sad.

“What is it, Kitty?”

“After three years of us being partners, I finally decided that I’ve given up on trying to win your affection.” he said bluntly.

“Oh,” she replied looking down, not sure what else to say.

“It’s not that I’m over you. In fact, I’m not sure I ever will be.” He said, “but I know you’ll never feel the same way about me.”

“Cat, I love you as a friend and a partner,” she replied, “but you know I’ve had my heart set on someone else for years now. It wouldn’t be fair to you if you and I ended up together because he would still be on my mind constantly…”

“I understand,” he said with a forced smile. “Well, I wish you luck with your mystery guy. And… I really hope things don’t change between us.”

Their Miraculous beeped one last time warning them that their time together was nearly up.

Ladybug looked away from Cat. “Don’t worry,” she assured, “you’re a best friend to me and the best partner I could ever ask for. That will never change.”

He smiled before vaulting away on his staff. 

After he was gone, she wiped away the tears that had welled up in her eyes. She never admitted it to anyone else, but throughout the years of them being together, she started to develop feelings for the silly cat. He knew her better than anyone else. She even went on a few dinner and movie dates with him—even though she always said it was just as friends.

“I better get to the arcade.”

Ladybug wrapped her yo-yo around the nearest building and swung away. She had a date tonight. She finally decided it was time to confess to Adrien. They had become closer after three years, so maybe he felt something for her, too? 

She landed in an alley near the arcade before her transformation released. Tikki floated into Marinette’s purse exhaustedly, attacking the cookie stash she kept for the little Kwami.

She walked out of the alley to see Alya in front of the building and Nino a few feet away on his phone. 

“Girl, where have you been?” Alya rushed over to her.

“Ahh, just helping out at the bakery,” she laughed rubbing the back of her head.

Nino walked over to the girls.

“Sorry dude, I got some bad news.”

They already knew what he was about to say. 

Already agitated, Marinette rolled her eyes in frustration.

“Let me guess, Adrien can’t make it?” She sighed.

“It isn’t his fault, his dad’s just… very controlling.” Nino reassured.

She forced a smile. “I know, it just gets pretty old.”

She turned and looked at the building they were standing outside of waiting for Adrien.

“I think… I’m not really feeling the arcade now,” Marinette shrugged and faced back toward her friends.

“We can go somewhere else if you want.” Alya said.

“Actually,” she said, “I kind of just want to go home. You two have fun.”

Alya hugged her friend tightly. “Girl, you know you’re always welcome to hang out even if Adrien can’t make it.”

“Yeah, it’s not like we’d make you like a third wheel or anything.” Nino said.

She let out a little giggle. “Oh, I know, you’d be more like the third wheel, Nino.”

“Hey man, not cool!” Nino cried as he jokingly pushed her.

“Sorry, sorry!” she laughed, “I’m going to head home now then.”

Alya released her friend from their embrace. “Do you want us to walk you home at least?”

“Nah, I can handle myself. See you guys!”

“Laters!”

“Be careful!”

The two waved her off. After she was a safe distance away from the arcade and hidden in the shadows, she transformed into Ladybug.

“I need to get away and clear my head.”

She swung to some abandoned buildings and released her transformation, sinking to the ground.

“Are you alright?” Tikki hovered above her trying to console her friend.

Marinette wiped her tears away and looked up at Tikki.

“I will be. Thank you, Tikki.”

The little Kwami gave Marinette’s cheek a hug.

“Cat Noir got me thinking…” she said, “it might be time that I give up on Adrien just like how Cat gave up on Ladybug.”

“But why?” questioned the Kwami. “We know it isn’t Adrien’s fault he couldn’t make it.”

“I know. And I don’t blame him either.” 

“Is this about yesterday then?”

“Maybe… a little?” Marinette smiled sheepishly. “I don’t think Adrien will ever feel the same way about me as I do about him. Cat Noir and I are in the same boat there. And Luka… He confessed to me after school yesterday. I told him I would think about it over the weekend and I would give my answer at school.”

“…but what about Cat Noir?”

“He… loves Ladybug, yes. But he will never see the real me. We would never be able to know one another’s identities, and I wouldn’t want to keep it from him if we were together. That would be just as bad as lying to him. That’s why I don’t think it would be a good idea to start something with him, either.

“You’ve made up your mind then?”

Marinette stood up brushing the dirt from her knees. She had a cute little black dress on with a large white ribbon on the left side of her waist. Her hair was styled with curls and her signature twin tails. She even wore makeup.

“Yeah… I think I finally made up my mind.”

“About what, Princess?” questioned an intruder. Although, Marinette knew at once who stood on the broken roof above her. Luckily, Tikki managed to hide before she was spotted.

She turned to see Cat Noir. The sun was now setting—it looked like his eyelashes were glistening in the light. Had he been crying?

“Oh, Cat Noir. You startled me. What brings you here?”

“Well Princess, I’d ask you the same thing, but I can only assume that you must be having a pretty bad day as well?”  
She stiffened. “How did you know?”

“This isn’t the first time I saw you up here. May I?” he gestured next to her as if asking to take a seat. 

Nodding an approval, “I see, but this is, in fact, the first time you decided to intrude on my alone time. So, you’ve been spying on me?”

Cat hopped to the ground and sat down next to Marinette as she joined him on the floor.

“Not at all. I also come here when something is bothering me. That is, when there aren’t any Akuma to fight.”

“What’s the matter Kitty? I’m all ears.”

“I appreciate the offer,” he chuckled, “but I can’t say anything about my personal life other than it’s pretty complicated.”

“I see.” 

‘So he won’t mention what happened between him and Ladybug earlier.’ She thought.

“However, I will be more than happy to hear about your problems.”

“I suppose there would be no harm in you knowing…” Marinette bit her bottom lip before continuing, “I guess I decided to give up on the person I love and give someone else a chance.”

“Wow, really?”

“Yeah. My friend Luka confessed to me yesterday. I told him I would have my answer on Monday.”

“What made you decide to give up on the person you love?”

She sighed heavily. “This might make me sound like a terrible person…”

“I won’t judge you. I promise.”

She smiled at him. “He is never allowed to join my friends and I when we make plans with him. I mean, I know it isn’t his fault. I honestly don’t blame him and could never be mad at him about it… but I always get my hopes up and he never shows. Just like tonight…”

“Tonight?”

“Yeah. He was supposed to meet Alya, Nino and I at the arcade this evening. It was kind of a double date set up by Alya, even if he didn’t know it.” She giggled.

Realization struck Cat like a bolt of lightning. ‘She’s talking about me? Marinette loves me?’

A moment of silence passed before she looked at Cat Noir to see how flustered he truly looked. Her cheeks grew hot.

“I-I’m so sorry, that was probably a bit much for someone you barely know to drop on you, huh?”

At that moment, he felt horrible for blowing off their plans and lying about not being allowed to leave his house.

“No, not at all! I’m sorry you had to go through that.”

“No, no. It’s fine. I’ll get over it.”

She looked away in an attempt to hide the fact that her eyes began to well up with tears, but he could hear it in her voice.

“Marinette…” She didn’t look at him, so he hugged her from behind and buried his face into the nape of her neck. “I’m so sorry…”

Marinette covered her face with her hands and began to sob. “I’m sorry you have to see me like this, Cat.”

He leaned back against the wall and just held her until she cried herself to sleep, unaware that he was also crying because he knew he had hurt his precious friend… He knew they could never be together. Ladybug was the only one who held his heart. At least, that’s what he kept telling himself as he drifted off to sleep.

Cat Noir awoke an hour later to his baton beeping.

“An Akuma attack?” he said quietly enough not to disturb Marinette. After all, she was safe here.

He carefully pulled away from her and leapt to the roof. He looked back at her one last time before heading toward the Akuma. “I’m so sorry I hurt you, Marinette.”

He leapt across the rooftops toward the commotion and into the darkness.

Cat Noir arrived at the scene of an unusually violent Akuma before Ladybug. It had large studded boxing gloves and it was punching everything in sight.

“The Akuma must be in his gloves,” Cat said as he pulled out his baton and tried to page Ladybug to no avail.

“I guess I’ll just have to hold it off until she arrives.”

Cat did his best against the Akuma, but it was incredibly quick for its large size. He successfully dodged multiple jabs and hooks. He leapt out of harms way looking at his baton once more. Nearly twenty minutes had passed since he began fighting. Where was Ladybug?

He heard a woman screech in terror as the Akuma lifted its fists into the air preparing to crush her.

Cat leapt into action grabbing the woman and taking her to safety.

“No more games.” Cat said angrily. “Let’s finish this.”

He proceeded to pounce toward the Akuma with his staff, but his target dodged, punching Cat in his side and sending him flying.

He landed hard against a building causing it to crumble on top of him.

The sound of rubble being moved around above him could be heard and there was noting he could do… He was trapped, defeated. It was pitch black. There was a brilliant green flash.

“N-NO! CAT!!” He faintly heard a young woman scream. “Lucky Charm!”

That was the last thing he heard before blacking out. 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

 

Adrien struggled to open his eyes. There was a sharp pain in his side when he shifted to sit up and his head was pounding. He felt a weight on top of him. Forcing himself up, he squinted around and saw Marinette on his chest, unconscious.  


“Marinette?" 

She didn’t move. Her hair was a mess. One of her hair ties was missing. Her dress was torn and destroyed. She looked like she had been through hell.

“Is that… blood?”

He tilted her chin up toward him so he could get a better look. She had a gash on her head with a stream of blood over her right eye. 

“M-Marinette!” he shook her gently in an attempt to wake her up.

“Hnnnggg…” 

Marinette slowly pushed herself up and gently touched the wound on her head.

“Ahh…” she winced in pain.

“Hey, are you alright?”

She looked up at Adrien wide-eyed as they began to fill with tears.

“A-Adrien…” she hugged him tightly and sobbed with her face buried in his shoulder, “I thought I l-lost you…”

He hugged her back. He couldn’t remember much of anything that happened. But more importantly, why was Marinette here? He left her in that building so that she would be safe. Why were they both injured? The last thing he remembered was fighting an Akuma and waiting for Ladybug to arrive…

He placed his hands on her shoulders and pushed her back slightly. 

“Marinette, can you tell me what happened?”

She took a moment to compose herself before she replied.

“Well first off,” she spoke quietly, barely a whisper, “Cat Noir... I saw you fighting the Akuma by yourself and you got hurt pretty badly. When that building fell on you… I was so scared…”

“And what about Ladybug?”

“She arrived and took care of the Akuma.” 

He sighed with relief. 

“Marinette, I appreciate you helping, but you really shouldn’t have gotten involved. You got hurt because of me.”

“Your Miraculous…” she replied, reaching for her bag

He looked down and saw that his ring was gone.

“Oh no…!” he covered his face with his hands. “How did this happen…?”

She grabbed his hands and placed the ring in them. 

“I’m sorry I was late…” she apologized, “this was all my fault.”

He looked down at his ring in disbelief, still not realizing what she was implying. “You got my Miraculous back? And saved me?”

She nodded without looking up at him.

He leaned forward and hugged her. “Thank you!!”

“You realize this is all Ladybug’s fault, right? This happened because she… Because I wasn’t there when you needed me.”

For the second time that evening, realization struck him.

“So, you… you’re Ladybug?” he asked cautiously without pulling away.

She nodded.

“I never planned on telling you…”

He hugged her even tighter. “I’m sorry I couldn’t make it to the arcade tonight. Please don’t give up on me, Princess.”

Marinette’s cheeks turned a deep red. “I forgive you,” she said returning his hug.

Adrien stood up and took Marinette by the hands to pull her toward him.

“How did I never see that it was you?”

“You were too busy watching Ladybug and making bad puns, you silly Cat.”  
“And you were too busy not appreciating my paw-some puns.”

“I guess we’re both pretty blind, huh?” she giggled.

“Yeah, but now that I know It’s you, I’m never letting you go.”

“Oh, but I thought I was just a really good friend?” She teased as she pushed his nose away.

“Did I say that?” 

“You did.”

“Well, I’ll make sure that I never make that mistake again.” He pulled her closer, moving her bloodied hair away from her face. “But first, we should probably go to the hospital.”

“No, this comes first.” She grabbed his cheeks and pulled him in for a kiss. It was short and sweet just like he imagined their first kiss would be.

“I love you. As Adrien and as Cat Noir. I always have. I just never admitted the Cat Noir part of it.”

He hugged her tightly. “I love you too, Buginette. I only wish I would have known sooner.”

Marinette’s legs wobbled as she lost her balance. Adrien caught her before she hit the ground. 

“M-Marinette!” 

“I’m… fine.” She replied groggily, “I think I lost quite a bit of blood.

Adrien picked her up and called Gorilla to take them to the hospital. He would have some major explaining to do when he got home, but he would worry about that later. All that mattered now was that he finally found his Lady and that she returned his feelings. They were finally together.

**Author's Note:**

> Hello!~  
> This is my very first fanfiction! I hope you all liked reading it as much as I enjoyed writing it. I don't plan on continuing this story any further, but maybe I'll write a new story? Who knows! Also, since I'm pretty new at this, constructive criticism is welcome.  
> Thanks so much for reading! ^-^


End file.
